


Bonded

by echo_of_words



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Canon, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Mutual Pining, Romantic Soulmates, Slow Burn, basically i'm keeping the basics of the canon story but i'll be making adjustments here and there, either for plot points or to just accommodate the fact that they're soulmates, shouyou is an oblivious idiot but they'll get there eventually
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:01:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24702736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/echo_of_words/pseuds/echo_of_words
Summary: Soulbonds manifest when both soulmates reach the age of twelve. Through them, the two (or, in some rare cases, more) soulmates can communicate feelings to each other, and they know whenever the other is feeling particularly strongly. It usually takes a while for soulmates to realise who the other is, but once they've found out, they often become inseperable, making each other stronger and helping and inspiring each other to reach even greater heights than before.Shouyou's been communicating with his soulmate ever since their connection manifested six months after his twelfth birthday. He has no idea who they are, but currently, he couldn't be happier as he enters a new school with a proper volleyball team that'll hopefully help him achieve his dream.When Tobio enters Karasuno High School and realises his oblivious (and stupidly cute) new teammate in the volleyball club is his soulmate, he realises that he might be in for more trouble than he thought.Or, alternatively, Kagehina being dumbasses in love. (They'll get there eventually, though.)[DISCONTINUED]
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio
Comments: 11
Kudos: 71





	1. Reaching out

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my first Haikyuu fic!! I've got this fic largely planned out, but I've yet to split it into chapters. I've had a lot of fun with it so far, and I hope it'll continue to be fun! These boys are gonna take a while to figure things out, but trust me, they'll be together eventually.  
> This fic is a birthday present for my sister - we both love Kagehina and she drew me some adorable fanart for _my_ birthday, so I obviously have to return the favour. Also I really love soulmate AUs and this was a perfect opportunity to write another one! (This is my fifth one, I think?)
> 
> the soulmate AU idea is heavily based off [Two As One](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1557271) by [bard_linn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bard_linn/pseuds/bard_linn) (which btw is a great fic go check it out if you like BNHA, and more specifically the ship Tododeku)
> 
> Anyways, enough of my rambling. Enjoy!!
> 
> Chapter warnings: one very mild mention of body horror

Shouyou lets himself fall backwards onto his bed, staring up at the ceiling. It’s been a long day, so he doesn’t really have the energy to do anything, but he doesn’t want to go to bed yet, either, because then the day would be over, and nothing interesting’s happened today yet.

_What could I do, though?_

After several moments of consideration, in which he goes through several options ranging from looking for something to read to badgering his mother to let him go practice volleyball outside despite the late hour and the cold, he settles on the more reasonable option of staying inside and going through with the thing that’s become a regular part of his evening routine—reaching out to his soulmate.

Ever since the “soulmate assembly” they had in elementary school, where the teachers rounded up all of the children and had a talk with them explaining what soulmates are and how the connections to them work, he’s been looking forward to meeting them. After all, who wouldn’t want to meet the person that some higher power must’ve determined them to click with better than with anyone else?

Almost exactly six months ago, on his twelfth birthday, Shouyou was more excited than he’d probably ever been—after all, this was the day he’d finally be old enough for the connection to manifest! But when he tried reaching out on that day, nothing happened, and although his mother reassured him that it was probably just because his soulmate is younger than him and hasn’t been able to reach out yet, he can’t help but worry that they’ve simply chosen not to respond, and are silently rejecting his ever-recurring efforts.

Shouyou shakes his head as if to clear the worries out of his mind. He’ll keep on trying until it works. After all, they’ll have to respond _eventually_ , right?

He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, imagining the glowing string he’s always used to visualise soulbonds. He’s never really been sure why he chose the string visual, but he likes the idea of a beam of invisible light, connecting him to his soulmate, an indestructible bond tying them together and making sure they’ll meet someday.

Focusing on the string, he thinks of happy thoughts—the smiles of his friends, the look on his sister Natsu’s face when he promised to teach her volleyball sometime, the exhilarating feeling of flying into the air and perfectly spiking a ball, his faith that he has a soulmate out there somewhere who he’ll meet someday—and imagines them as a glowing yellow stream of light, coming out of his chest and flowing out onto the string. He urges the light along, pushing it along the connection until it’s out of his imaginary sight. It races along the string until it reaches his soulmate, forming into a ball before melting into their chest and filling them with that same happy glow.

He smiles to himself and opens his eyes again. He doesn’t know whether his soulmate is receiving the feelings, but even if they aren’t, it’s still nice to think of the things that make him happy.

Shouyou gets to his feet, stretches, and decides to go brush his teeth. He _is_ kind of tired, and maybe if nothing interesting happens today, _two_ will happen tomorrow.

Fifteen minutes later, he’s settling into bed, and having resigned himself to the fact that today will have been an uneventful day. He switches off the lamp on his bedside table and turns over, closing his eyes.

And then, just as he’s at that twilight stage between sleeping and waking, he feels it—a brush at something inside his chest that’s definitely not physical touch. It’s got a _different_ feeling to it—cool and hard, and yet somehow oddly comforting.

He sits bolt upright, suddenly wide awake again. _Was that..._

Hesitant, unsure of whether he’s imagining things, he reaches out along the imaginary string, and gives the soulmate he imagines to be there a small poke, holding his breath and silently counting.

He gets to twenty without anything happening, and he really needs to breathe now, so he lets the breath go, disappointment blooming up inside him. _Maybe I just imagined it?_

But then he feels that same touch again, a little stronger this time, and his heart leaps. _I didn’t imagine that._

He jumps up. “Mom!” he yells, running out into the hallway. “ _Mom!_ ”

She stumbles out of the living room. “What is it, Shouyou? Are you alright?”

He beams at her, practically vibrating on the spot with excitement and nodding frantically. “Mom! I— I have a soulmate!”

* * *

Tobio’s lying in bed, staring at the dark ceiling, thinking. Today was his twelfth birthday, and while everyone says it has the potential to be the most important day in a child’s life, it hasn’t had much significance for him yet. Sure, birthdays are great, and he finally got that better volleyball he was always asking his parents for, but all in all, it’s no different from any other birthdays he’s had.

Up until recently, his mother was always telling him how on his twelfth birthday, his soulbond would finally appear, but for the past few days, she’s been completely silent on the matter. Tobio doesn’t really know what her motive is—it’s not like he’s going to forget about it, and if the connection was going to appear, wouldn’t it have been better to help him with it?

Well, he’s not going to ask her about it. If she doesn’t want to talk about it, he’ll just have to figure it out by himself. But now, he’s tired, so it’ll have to wait until the morning. After all, he has to be well-rested so he can keep on practicing volleyball tomorrow.

Except that doesn’t happen, because a second later, he’s suddenly hit with a huge wave of happy feelings that come completely out of nowhere. He sits up, disoriented, his chest feeling like it’s swelling with all the emotion. _Where the hell is this coming from?_

 _Unless…_ What if this is his soulbond?

He throws his covers aside and jumps up, running out into the hallway and down the stairs, all doubts about asking his mother forgotten. She’s sitting on the living room couch, idly watching the TV and looking bored, but when he bursts into the room, she looks up, alarmed. “Tobio? What’s wrong?”

“I think my soulbond is working!”

Her eyes widen. “Tobio, that’s great! What happened?”

“I just felt really happy for some reason, and it didn’t feel like it was coming from me.”

Her eyes widen. “Oh, that must’ve been your soulmate reaching out to you! Come sit with me.” She pats the couch next to her. “I’ll show you how to respond!”

Tobio nods, walking over and sitting down as his mother grabs the remote and turns the TV off.

“Okay, so. I usually imagine my soulbond like a road of cars going in both directions, and if I want to communicate with your dad, I imagine putting a package in one of the cars driving towards him, and whenever he sends me something, I imagine that a car just arrived with a package for me. There’s other analogies too, though—a pretty common one is a river that flows in two directions, or a bloodstream being pumped by both soulmates’ hearts. You can use whatever you think works best for you. When you’ve thought of something, you can try pushing a feeling along that bond towards them, and see if they respond!”

Tobio looks down at his hands, which are resting on his knees. He’s thought about soulbonds before, and he’s never been quite sure how to imagine them. He thinks he likes the river analogy, though—a strong force, continuously flowing between him and his soulmate, connecting them to him on a path that can’t be broken or diverted.

He nods to himself. Yes, the river analogy is good. He closes his eyes and imagines it, a river of colourless, softly glowing water flowing through a void away from him and out of sight. Then, he imagines pouring a few drops of dark blue liquid into it, almost like ink. He’s not sure why he chose the colour, but he watches as it swirls, mixing with the water and being carried away into the distance. When it’s out of sight, he opens his eyes again.

“I...sent something to them. I think,” he tells his mother. “How do I know it reached them?”

“Well, you’ll have to see if they respond!”

For several moments, they sit there, Tobio holding his breath in anticipation, concentrating hard, trying to see whether he can feel anything.

And then he does—a light poke to something in his chest. It didn’t feel like physical touch—he doesn’t want to know what physical touch _inside_ him would feel like—but something was definitely there, and he imagines his soulmate sticking their finger into the river’s water and causing a ripple that rushes all the way back to him.

“They poked me!”

His mother’s face breaks into a smile. “Well, then, that’s settled—you definitely have a soulmate, and they know you’re there! But for now, I think you should head back to bed. Your soulmate will still be there in the morning, and you’ve got school tomorrow. I’m sure the two of you will figure things out soon enough.”

Reluctantly, Tobio gets up from the couch. “Alright. Good night, mom.” He doesn’t really want to go to bed now—after all, he’s just connected with his soulmate for the first time! He wants to communicate with them more, and figure out how all of this works! But his mother is right—his soulmate _will_ still be there in the morning, and he _does_ need to sleep.

So he heads back up the stairs without complaint. But as he settles back into bed, he lets a few more drops fall into the imaginary river, just to reassure his soulmate that he’s _really_ there, and the confirmation that they got the message arrives just a second later when a burst of excitement that’s not from him fills his chest, and he has to smile to himself. Whoever his soulmate is, they’re clearly full of energy, and while that does seem like it could quickly get exhausting, he has a feeling they’ll get along eventually.

And over the next while, the two of them keep reaching out and lightly touching the other—almost as if to say _I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere anytime soon._

Tobio feels like there’s a warm glow somewhere in his chest that wasn’t there before, and it ends up being quite a while before he actually falls asleep.


	2. Yukigaoka vs Kitagawa Daiichi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hinata plays his first ever real volleyball match! Kageyama isn't sure what this team's deal is, but he's going to beat them anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not kidding when i say this chapter FOUGHT me. It did _not_ want to be written. I'm still feeling kinda ehhh about it but I think this is the most I'll be able to make of it. Also, you might notice that I'm tweaking canon _slightly_ in some parts - that might happen in some places. I'm taking the canon storyline and adjusting it where I see fit.  
> Also, I've now got the storyline completely figured out, and I've got a proper outline up until chapter 10! I'm not quite sure how many chapters this fic is going to have, but with the way the outline is currently going, I'm thinking maybe 15 or so? I'm honestly not sure though. We'll see.
> 
>  **Warnings:** None for this chapter!

Tobio looks across the court to the other side of the gym. Honestly, he wasn’t sure what he was expecting for this match, but it was definitely not this. Their opponents seem to be completely careless, laughing together and not seeming to take their warm-up seriously in the slightest. In addition, the six players currently warming up seem to be the only players on the team, and two of them don’t even seem practiced at volleyball.

As Tobio watches, one of the two apparent beginners stumbles and falls after jumping up for what vaguely looks like a spike by someone who’s never actually spiked a ball before. Another one of the players, one with bright orange hair that Tobio recognises as the same boy he ran into in the hallway earlier, helps his teammate up and says something to him, grinning brightly.

Tobio turns away. He’s sure they’re going to win this match, unless this other team—Yukigaoka, he thinks the school is called—secretly has some hidden superhuman volleyball abilities. Judging by the fact that he’s never heard of their school’s name before, though, and the fact that their team is ridiculously small (in both number and height), he’s pretty confident that this match will be an easy win.

He’s not going to let that affect his playing style, though—he’s going to take this match as seriously as he takes every other match, too. The orange-haired boy seems serious about trying to win, and while his team doesn’t look up to it, Tobio won’t let a challenge get past him. He’s going to show the other team what it _really_ means to play volleyball.

* * *

Shouyou’s positively vibrating with excitement. Here they are, at his first official junior high volleyball competition, and they’re going to play against a really good team, too! He’s not so sure about their chances of winning, seeing as they’re playing a school that’s been called a powerhouse, but he’s not going to _say_ that to anyone.

The other players seem scary, though—they’re all so tall! And the famed King of the Court is among them! Shouyou admits he was kind of terrifying in the hallway earlier, but he doesn’t care—he’s going to show him that he _is_ taking this seriously, and he _is_ here to win!

The referee’s whistle sounds, and adrenaline shoots through Shouyou. _It’s starting!_

Kitagawa Daiichi has the first serve, and—not that Shouyou was expecting much else—it lands a point, as do the next several ones. He keeps telling his teammates not to give up, though—after all, they’re finally here, and they won’t let a few points get them down!

He has to admit to himself that about a dozen points later, _maybe_ the King had a point earlier. But he also told him that he can jump, and he _can_ —but the other team block his spike yet again, and he lands, clenching his fist.

“Don’t mind, Sho-chan. You’ll get the next one!” Izumi says, walking over to clap him on the shoulder.

Shouyou nods, determination flooding through him once more. “Yeah, I will!”

He watches as yet another set on the other side of the net goes flying out of bounds, with a mixture of awe for the King’s skills and sympathy for the spikers who he’s now angrily reprimanding.

Shouyou shudders. Talking to him in the hallway was scary enough; he doesn’t want to know what it’s like being yelled at by him like that.

Kitagawa Daiichi serve, and Kouji manages to get the ball up in the air. Izumi hits the ball into a reasonably good serve, and Shouyou sees his chance.

He runs forwards, jumping as hard as he can and feeling the familiar rush of exhilaration as he soars through the air. He hits the ball across the net with all his might, and falls back to the ground as the ball _whooshes_ through the air, landing them a point.

Shouyou does a little jump and flutters his hands furiously for a brief moment before reluctantly restraining himself and turning around to grin at his teammates. He doesn’t want to wildly stim in the middle of a match because frankly, it’d be a little embarrassing to him, but the energy has to go _somewhere_ , so he continues bouncing on the balls of his feet, beaming. “I got one!”

Izumi nods, a satisfied smile on his face as well. “Good job, Sho-chan!”

A yell sounds out from the other side of the net. “That was no miracle!”

Shouyou turns. The King of the Court is confronting one of his teammates, looking angry as ever. As Shouyou watches, he lifts a finger and points across the court—right at Shouyou’s chest.

“That guy just scored a genuine point! We have a reason to take them seriously! So keep scoring until we’ve _actually_ won!”

Something stirs in Shouyou’s chest as he stares at the King. _Is he...recognising me? As an actual enemy that he needs to take seriously?_

He clenches his fist, his confidence heightened. If _the_ King of the Court says that Shouyou’s an opponent to be taken seriously, then he’s going to help him prove that point to the rest of the team until they _all_ take him—and Yukigaoka’s team as a whole—seriously!

* * *

“Kageyama!”

Tobio turns to glare at their coach over his shoulder. “ _What?_ ”

“Stop yelling! It’s not helping anyone!” The coach looks legitimately angry with him, and Tobio, while frustrated and still annoyed at his teammates, thinks that it’s probably better if he stops before the coach decides to sub him out. After all, the team needs him— _he_ needs to be on the court to help them win.

The game resumes, and Tobio watches as the other team yet again fails to stop the ball hitting the ground, and yet again he wonders why they’re here and whether they’re even trying to win.

Kindaichi serves, and this time, Yukigaoka actually manage to get the ball up in the air. The set goes up, and the orange-haired boy yet again manages to jump to a huge height with that incredible speed, and Tobio only barely manages to reach high enough that the ball glances off the tips of his fingers.

“One touch!” he yells, turning to watch as the ball flies high above their heads. “Cover!”

Kunimi, the one standing closest to the ball, starts half-heartedly running towards it, but Tobio can tell he isn’t really trying, and the ball falls to the ground, landing Yukigaoka a point.

Kunimi bends down to pick the ball up and shrugs as he walks back onto the court. “We’ll get the next one, I guess.”

But Tobio isn’t going to accept _that_ attitude. “Run faster!” he bellows at him. “Work harder! Actually _try_ for once! We haven’t won yet, and if you keep going on like that, we aren’t _going_ to win!”

Kunimi looks at him, resentment clear in his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, whatever.” He looks over at Kindaichi and nods. Tobio briefly wonders whether it’s a signal for something, but he has no chance to ponder what it could mean as the whistle blows to announce the continuation of the game.

Yukigaoka serve. Oritsume easily receives it, and Tobio’s vision of what he’s going to do next is, as always, focused and crystal clear. He sends the ball into the air—a perfect set—and yet…

The ball hits the court floor, bouncing twice and rolling away into a corner of the gym.

Tobio stares at it, then looks over his shoulder at his teammates. _None of them even_ tried _to get it._ All of them are standing there, looking at him, stony-faced.

“Kageyama.” Kindaichi’s voice is just as cold as the look in his eyes. “You haven’t been part of this team for a long time, and we’ve made up our minds.”

There’s a horrible sinking feeling in Tobio’s chest as he stares at his teammates. “What are you…?”

“We’re not going to accept you as our setter anymore.” Tobio dimly registers a numb feeling in the pit of his stomach as Kindaichi continues. “Coach Chiba’s agreed to bench you. We won’t play with a setter who’s only interested in playing for himself.”

Tobio stares at them, unable to form words as Coach Chiba calls his name and beckons him off the court. He slowly walks off as Eijiri jogs past him onto the court without so much as glancing at Tobio, and sits down on the bench, staring at the floor, one sentence repeating over and over in his mind, echoing itself and becoming louder and louder as the distinct feeling of despair in his stomach grows.

_They rejected me._

* * *

Shouyou watches as the King—Kageyama—gets benched, staring, his mouth slightly hanging open. _They’d bench_ him _? Of all players?_

Another player—the other team’s replacement setter, it seems—jogs onto the court, taking Kageyama’s place. Shouyou’s not sure what he’s supposed to feel—on one hand, this means it should be easier for them to win, because the incredibly skilled King is no longer on the court. On the other hand, Kitagawa Daiichi is still a powerhouse school, even without their famed setter, and besides, Shouyou can’t help but feel a little sympathy for Kageyama as he sits on the bench, staring at the floor. Briefly, he wonders what Kageyama’s soulmate feels like right now. Does he even have one? Shouyou doesn’t envy them; having such a terrifying person for a soulmate can’t be easy.

But then Shouyou’s hit by a wave of negative feelings from his own soulmate. He frowns slightly, trying to figure out what exactly they are—he thinks hopelessness, maybe? Despair?

Well, whatever he wants to call it, he knows what he has to do. He watches as the game resumes, waiting for his chance, all thoughts of Kageyama already forgotten.

Kitagawa Daiichi serve, and this time, Kouji actually manages to send the ball upwards. It flies through the air and Izumi goes to hit it—

Except he doesn’t, and only brushes it with the tips of his fingers, sending it soaring backwards in the completely wrong direction.

Shouyou grits his teeth. _I can still get this!_ He runs forward as fast as he can and jumps, concentrating on pushing the feeling of pure joy and exhilaration and _freedom_ every spike brings him along his soulbond with all his might, and hits the ball across the net, _finally_ scoring another point and hoping his soulmate got the message as his teammates congratulate him.

But then Kitagawa Daiichi land yet another point, and Shouyou clenches his fist, sitting up after having launched himself across the ground in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the ball from falling. _They’re at match point now!_

“Uh…”

Shouyou looks over. Kawashima looks like he often does, timid and seeming scared of what he’s about to say.

“What is it, Kawashima-kun?”

“I… well… we don’t want to get injured. Wouldn’t it be better to let them have this point now, so we can go home and try again another time? They’re obviously better than us. We don’t stand a chance against them.”

“Huh?” Shouyou shakes his head. “No. We haven’t lost yet! I guess it’s okay if you don’t want to put yourself at risk, but… I’m going to keep giving it my all! I need to show the King of the Court that I can win this!”

Kawashima looks doubtful. “But it’s over if they score one more point. It’s not like we’re going to score…” He looks over at the scoreboard. “...eighteen points in a row now.”

“Well, you won’t know that until we’ve tried!” Shouyou says determinedly, getting to his feet. “And we’re _going_ to try!”

And he does—and the ball, caught on the fingertips of the other team’s blockers, flies out of bounds, scoring Yukigaoka another point.

“ _Yes!_ ” Shouyou pumps his fist in the air and turns to face the rest of his team. “See, Kawashima-kun? We can keep trying! We _do_ have a chance!”

Kawashima still looks doubtful, but he does manage a small smile. “Yeah, I guess we do.”

Shouyou grins. “We haven’t lost yet!”

About a minute later, however, they _have_ , and Shouyou tries his best not to feel too disappointed as the crowd behind Kitagawa Daiichi’s banner cheers wildly.

 _It’s not like we were_ expecting _to win_ , he tells himself as they walk off the court towards the changing rooms, the other team members exchanging sighs and “oh well”s behind him.

“Hey, Sho-chan.”

Shouyou turns to look at Izumi, tilting his head. “Hm?”

“You did a great job. We showed them that we _did_ have a chance. It’s not like it was a very big chance, but…” Izumi shrugs. “We did our best. And hey, at least you can say that you’ve played a real match now!”

Shouyou sighs. “Yeah, I suppose so.”

Then, he remembers what happened during the match, and abruptly straightens up from his previously hunched walk. _Wait, I can’t be feeling down now!_ After all, his soulmate wasn’t feeling good in the first place—they don’t deserve to be sent even more bad feelings from _him_.

 _It wasn’t that important anyway_ , he decides as he continues walking towards the changing rooms. He’s going to push his disappointment aside and focus on something else instead—he’ll focus on the future. He nods to himself. Yeah, that’s what he’ll do! He’ll beat the King next time, for sure!

* * *

Tobio’s walking down the steps in front of the sports facility, still feeling sort of numb. He doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do now—is he even going to be allowed to keep playing on the team? Surely they know this’ll hurt their chances of winning the tournament. He’s the setter they’re most used to playing with, after all.

...Well. According to them, he doesn’t really play _with_ them at all.

He shakes his head, the annoyance from earlier flooding back into him. It’s not _his_ fault _they_ aren’t good enough to keep up with him. His skill should be _motivating_ them to work harder and rise to his level, not make them _kick him off the_ _team_.

And then the realisation hits him yet again. _They’ve kicked him off the team._

What’s he going to _do_?

“Hey!” a voice from behind him calls out. Tobio turns to see the orange-haired #1 from Yukigaoka running down the stairs towards him, and stops walking, raising an eyebrow as the small boy comes to a halt next to him, panting.

“What?”

“You’re— you’re the King of the Court,” he pants, looking up at him with a look on his face that Tobio can’t quite define. “And you’re a really good player. So— so I don’t care that you got kicked off your own team. I’m going to beat you someday! I know I will! And I’ll be the last one standing!”

Tobio considers him for a moment, eyebrow still raised, choosing to ignore the comment about being kicked off his own team. _Who does this guy think he is?_

“The last ones standing are the ones who win. And to win, you have to be strong.” He pauses. “As you are, you’re still far from strong.” It’s true—the guy’s got talent, sure, but on his own, with a team like that, he’s never going to get anywhere. “Get stronger. Then you can talk about beating me.”

He turns and starts walking away, leaving the other boy standing where he is.

“I’m Hinata. Hinata Shouyou,” he calls after Tobio, his voice now sounding determined. “Remember that—it’s the name of the person who’s going to defeat you someday!”

“Then get practicing,” Tobio calls over his shoulder. “You’ve still got a long way to go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i _can_ and _will_ project my own happy stimming onto hinata. he deserves it. smol orange boy go flappy

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos are greatly appreciated!! also come say hi on tumblr [@echo-of-words](https://echo-of-words.tumblr.com)


End file.
